SOUTH AFRICA UNDER KING SEBASTIAN AND THE CARDINAL

“Little has been written about the colonial aspect of the reign of King Sebastian; because this King has been the subject of one of the bittrest controversies among Portuguese historians about their home politics, which has absorbed almost all their attention. The bitterness has largely arisen out of later ideologies that are only slightly connected with the 24 years of overseas expansion which are the theme of this book.
“Writers of the type os Antonio Sergio in his ‘O Desejado’ are violent pamphleteers with a family likeness to the North American writer Motley. Whilst Motley was preparing his ‘Rise of the Dutch Republic’, he wrote to his father that he enjoyed pitcing into King Phillip II and the Duke of Alva to his heart’s content.That enjoyment made his work cheetful reading for those who shared his fierce sectarianism, now somewhat out of date; but it caused him to neglect the facts, and has made a joke of his claim to be an historian. Sebastian was a contemporary of Philip and Alva, though in many ways their opponent. But many historians have written histories of Sebastian, which are mere phillipics against him.
“My subject necessitates only an occasional reference to these controversies. But as it includes facts that are often left out in works on this period, it may not only serve the main purpose of our South African historuy, but also help to fill a gap in some Portuguese histories. It is to generally unknown or neglected Portuguese documents that I am principally indebted for the raw materials of what is most solid in the following pages.”.